Frances appeared in the doorway.
“Maddie?”
My daughter turned.
All the color left her face.
“Mom…”
Frances muttered, “Oh, jeez.”
But the elderly woman looked directly at me and smiled.
“Carol!” she called brightly. “You’re late.”
Nobody spoke.
Then the woman looked around at all of us, confused.
Her smile disappeared.
All the color left her face.
“I keep losing everybody,” she whispered.
And Maddie squeezed the woman’s hand.
“You’re not losing us,” she murmured.
The woman looked at her for a moment, then smiled.
“You’re sweet, Carol.”
Maddie didn’t correct her.
That surprised me almost as much as everything else.
“I keep losing everybody.”
Moments later, Carol came through the front doors behind me.
“Frances, Maddie… Oh my God… what are you girls doing here?”
Inside, the place looked nothing like the frightening picture I’d built in my head.
“Oh my God… what are you girls doing here?”
There were couches, family photographs, a television playing an old game show, and a handwritten board advertising Friday movie night.
